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Resale Housing Market Sees High Gains in May

Market Watch - June 2011 Resale Housing Market Sees High Gains in May

Positive economic news and low borrowing costs led to strong sales through the first five months of the year, including the increase in May. At the same time, the market has become much tighter compared to last year, due to a substantial dip in new listings.

Overall, the market is in a balanced position, however there are significant differences amongst individual communities and property types stressing the importance of getting local expertise if you’re thinking of buying or selling.

Ontario - residential condominium market sees highest gains in May

Toronto, June 3, 2011 – Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 10,046 sales in May 2011 – up 6% compared to May 2010. This result was the second best on record for May under the current Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) service area. The number of new listings in May, at 16,076, was down 15% compared to last year.

“Positive economic news and low borrowing costs led to strong sales through the first five months of the year, including the increase in May,” said TREB President Bill Johnston. “At the same time, the market has become much tighter compared to last year, due to a substantial dip in new listings.”

Homes were on the market for an average of 23 days and sold for an average price of $485,520 – up 9% compared to $446,593 in May 2010. The strongest rate of price growth was experienced for single-detached homes sold in the City of Toronto.

“We have seen clear-cut seller's market conditions emerge over the past two to three months,” explained Jason Mercer, TREB's Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “The robust price appreciation that we have seen will hopefully prompt more households to list, resulting in a more balanced market later this year,” continued Mercer.

The median price was $400,000 in May, compared to $376,750 recorded during May of 2010.

Hamilton, June 3, 2011 – The Greater Hamilton, Burlington and their outlying areas experienced an increased number of listings for the month of May and a small decrease in the number of sales overall.

The average sale price of all properties rose again in May when compared to last year. The largest gain in average sale price was in the residential condominium market.

“The condominium market in our area is where we saw the most growth in May,” said REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) President Ann Forbes Arndt. “The average sale price is up almost 11% over May of last year and sales were higher than the 10-year average for the month.”

Residential sales saw a slight decrease in the number of sales compared to May of last year, while the average sale price rose 3.8%. Year to date residential unit sales were 8.4% lower year than last year.

“Every community in our jurisdiction has their own localized market with larger swings than we see in the overall numbers,” said Arndt. “Hamilton Mountain saw a 20% increase in numbers of sales, while Dundas showed a decrease of 32.4%. Dunnville is a smaller community but has seen big increases in sales over the same month last year, percentage-wise.”

Burlington had the largest increase in average sale price at 8.8%; other areas with significant increases in average sale prices in May were Hamilton Centre and Ancaster. Dunnville and Grimsby were the only communities with significant decreases in average sale price.

British Columbia – Fraser Valley housing market shows local variation

Fraser Valley, June 2, 2011 – The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board processed 1,608 property sales on its Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) in May, an increase of 9% compared to 1,477 sold during May of last year, and an increase of 6% compared to April’s 1,516 sales.

Sukh Sidhu, president of the Board, reports, “Overall, the Fraser Valley market is in a balanced position, however there are significant differences amongst individual communities and property types stressing the importance of getting local expertise if you’re thinking of buying or selling.

“For example, sales of single family detached homes in South Surrey/White Rock, Cloverdale and North Delta remain brisk with those markets favouring sellers, however in Abbotsford and Mission high inventory and downward pressure on prices is good news for buyers. In Langley, Surrey Central and North Surrey, conditions are balanced for sales of detached homes.”

Variation is also evident in home prices. In May, the benchmark price for Fraser Valley detached homes was $529,810, an increase of 2.8% year-over-year. The benchmark price is the predicted sale price of a typical property in the Fraser Valley. Contrast that to May’s average price of $630,870 for detached homes, an 11.6% increase compared to May 2010 – influenced by the sale of higher-end homes or homes with larger lots.

Sukh Sidhu explains, “The average price and its percentage change often do not provide an accurate picture of the real market, which is why we talk about prices of “typical” homes that most people are buying or selling.”

In May, the benchmark price of Fraser Valley townhomes was $324,730, a decrease of 1.1% compared to $328,295 in May 2010. The benchmark price of apartments was $250,988 in May, a decrease of 0.5% compared to the $252,221 price in May of last year.

May finished with 2.9% more active listings on the MLS® than it had in April – 9,978 compared to 9,697 – however, 12.6% fewer than the 11,411 listings that were active during May of 2010. The Board received 3,070 new listings in May, an increase of 5.2% compared to April and a decrease of 11.2% compared to the 3,457 new listings received in May 2010.

Alberta - local housing market up

Edmonton, June 2, 2011 – The local real estate market is looking up according to the current statistics released by the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton. The average residential sales price is up, the price of a single family detached home or a condo is up, number of sales is up and inventory is up over the previous month.

“Local market housing sales this year are tracking as we forecast in January,” explained REALTORS® Association of Edmonton President Chris Mooney. “Historically for the month of May, the days-on-market (50 days) is at the second lowest point in four years while the sales-to-listing ratio at 53% is at the second highest point in the same period. Both metrics are a good indication of market optimism.”

The average price of a single family detached home in May was $380,545, up a quarter of a percent from last month. An average priced condo sold for $241,079, up an amazing 3.65% from April. Duplex and row house prices declined 2.96% month-over-month but the average residential price (including all types of residential properties) was up 1.39% from a month ago.

Median prices in most housing categories were up: single family detached up 1.13%, condo up 3.64%, Duplex/row house down 2% and all residential up 0.8%. There were 1,857 residential sales in May (up 24.9% from April) with listings of 3,525 properties (up from 3,278 in April). As a result, inventory increased from 7,715 properties to 8,180.

“There is a wide range of property on the market right now but it is turning over quicker than in recent months,” said Mooney. “The local economy is picking up, the demand for labour is increasing but the national situation is keeping interest rates low. We anticipate increasing prices and sales through the summer ahead as we originally forecast.”

Total Edmonton and area MLS® System sales in May were $701 million for an annual total-to-date of $2.574 billion.

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